Press Play with Madeleine Brand: California case: free speech v. abortion rightsCrisis pregnancy centers are generally run by pro-life groups that aim to convince pregnant women not to get abortions. A California law requires that employees tell their clients that the state offers free and low-cost abortions and other family planning services. Now a group of these centers is arguing that the law violates their freedom of speech.

UnFictionalUnbelievably true stories of chance encounters that changed the world. A pair of mail-order shoes that led to the film The Outsiders. A secret road to a California paradise. The day LA and smog first met. Stories that will stick in your head like a memory. It’s UnFictional, hosted by Bob Carlson.

The DocumentThe Document is a new kind of mash-up between documentaries and radio. It goes beyond clips and interviews, mining great stories from the raw footage of documentaries present, past and in-progress. A new episode is available every other Wednesday on iTunes and wherever fine podcasts are downloaded.

To the PointA weekly reality-check on the issues Americans care about most. Host Warren Olney draws on his decades of experience to explore the people and issues shaping – and disrupting - our world. How did everything change so fast? Where are we headed? The conversations are informal, edgy and always informative. If Warren's asking, you want to know the answer.

Villaraigosa to Chair Democratic National Convention

Antonio Villaraigosa will be chair of the Democratic National Convention when it re-nominates Barack Obama next September in North Carolina. The Latino Mayor, who needed black votes to be elected, will preside on behalf of the black President who needs all the Latino votes he can get.

FROM THIS EPISODE

Antonio Villaraigosa will be chair of the Democratic National Convention when it re-nominates Barack Obama next September in North Carolina. The Latino Mayor, who needed black votes to be elected, will preside on behalf of the black President who needs all the Latino votes he can get. We hear about that as Barack Obama ties up LA traffic again on a visit to raise more Hollywood money. Also, Gustavo Dudamel and the LA Philharmonic have been in Caracas, Venezuela. We hear from a reporter who went along. On our rebroadcast of today's To the Point, Syria's civil war.

Banner image: Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (L) gives a 'fist bump' to then-presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama during the national convention of the League of United Latin American Citizens at the Washington Hilton July 8, 2008 in Washington, DC. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Antonio Villaraigosa supported Hillary Clinton in 2008, until the handwriting was on the wall. By last September, during a presidential address to a joint session of Congress, he was sitting up in the gallery near Michelle Obama. Now he's not just head of the US Conference of Mayors, he's been picked as chair of the Democratic National Convention next September in Charlotte, North Carolina. He's already released a video calling on people to "speak out," and might attend a series of fundraisers the President is holding tonight in LA and tomorrow in Orange County. Tonight's fundraiser is all about Hollywood, where the President has some fence mending to do over the anti-piracy bills the White House helped kill in the Senate and Congress.

Syria's Bashar al-Assad has called for elections, even as his army continues to bombard residential neighborhoods the Assad government calls "havens for terrorists" inspired by foreign enemies. Army defectors and others are fighting back as best they can. Some 25,000 civilians have managed to flee to destinations including Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon. We hear the stories of refugees, get reports on anti-government forces and update international calls for humanitarian intervention.